Diane Abbott slams Gregg Wallace’s ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ remark

Labour MP Diane Abbott has warned Gregg Wallace that ‘the world has moved on’ after he defended himself against accusations of abuse by arguing it was ‘middle class women of a certain age’ complaining about him

Diane Abbott has shared her thoughts on the scandal that is currently engulfing BBC MasterChef star Gregg Wallace.

TV cookery expert Gregg, 60, has been embroiled in scandal in recent days after a number of people stepped forward to claim he had used inappropriate sexual language on the set of his BBC show. While subsequent allegations have emerged to suggest he has groped women and used racist terminology – allegations the star himself has furiously denied.

Attempting to confront the allegations on Sunday, Gregg released a string of videos via Instagram Stories in which he argued those making claims against him were “a handful of middle class women of a certain age”. Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg – which was hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, Labour MP Diane, 71, lashed back at Gregg for his comments.

She remarked: “It’s not a crime to be a middle class woman over a certain age, I would say. Gregg doesn’t get it. The world has moved on. Back in the day he could touch up women and harass women —” Host Victoria, 56, then interjected to state: “Well, there’s no suggestion that he’s done that. Absolutely no suggestion he has done that at all.”

Pressing on, Diane said: “Back in the day he could harass women, and it was about power, really. Women weren’t in a position to say anything or do anything. He just doesn’t understand the world has moved on.” And then reiterating her fact, Victoria stated: “And just to repeat, through his lawyers, he has said ‘It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexual harassing nature.’”

Diane is not the only figure from the world of politics to react to Gregg’s blunt rebuff of the accusations made against him. Former MP Anna Soubry was among those to pan the star for his comments, writing on X: “‘It’s yer ‘ormones luv’ Gregg 2gs Wallace proving he’s not an odious misogynist.”

And there was a deluge of furious comments from others who felt Gregg’s video posts were tone deaf. One X user wrote: “Gregg Wallace explaining how he is totally innocent and it’s all the fault of ‘middle-class women’.” While another blasted the star’s press team for failing to intervene, writing: “Who advised Gregg Wallace to say complaints were coming from women ‘of a certain age’?!?! Has he really got no idea of how that would sound?!”

In his Instagram Stories video address to fans, Gregg said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years. Amateur, Celebrity and Professional MasterChef. And in that time, I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life. And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. In the newspaper I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle class women of a certain age, just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”

He added: “In 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants, on MasterChef have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo. Can you imagine?”